howard hughes

we should all bow down to this man's genius, boldness & courage. aside from the fact that his little black book could have challenged hugh hefner's in hef's golden days, his ballsy decision-making style paved the way for aviation, aeronautics (& arguably astro). taking his ambitious spirit to the brink of insanity and social humiliation, howard hughes refused to let the external world determine his fate. while current media have profited from focusing on his psychological problems, his legacy has long survived him and we're not just talking on the biography channel. the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, a non-profit medical research facility founded by his estate, invests about $450 million annually into some of america's most cutting edge biomedical research. it is the 2nd wealthiest philanthropic organization in the u.s. behind the bill & melinda gates foundation. oh, and the 2nd biggest medical research foundation in the world after the uk's wellcome trust.

as an even further testament that his controversial independence was more than just lunacy, the Institute functions much like ol howie did back in the thirties & forties - free from governmental interference and interest. in fact, the trust was founded as a tax haven for mr. howard's billions. nevertheless, this refusal to allow the government to regulate his estate has resulted in breakthroughs in genetics, immunology and molecular biology. see, while religious-pushing politicians have managed to allow the U.S. to fall far behind in the area of stem cell research as a means for cellular therapy, the Hughes Institute has been able to do whatever the hell it wants. it's not driven by tax dollars. like that sherlock holmes dude on those guinness commercials --- BREELIANT!!!

if he were here today to defend himself, i think it'd go something like this - "I personally fought the United States government in the name of free market enterprise, inspired decades of aeronautical innovation, became the wealthiest man in the world and left it all to science, and I slept with half of Hollywood. Sorry if I wasn't a picture of mental health there in the end. Little worn out."